Strongest Kingdom: My Op Kingdom Got Transported Along With Me-Chapter 356 - 355: Preparing For The Upcoming Battle

Half a month passed after the announcement.

Celes City changes.

It does not grow louder all at once. It swells, hour by hour, street by street, until the city can no longer contain the weight of what gathers inside it.

By the third morning, the roads leading into Celes are no longer roads.

They are rivers of people.

Adventurers arrive in endless waves, banners tied to packs, weapons slung openly over shoulders. Cloaks mark guilds. Emblems flash—iron, silver, gold, adamantine, diamond. Camps spread beyond the outer walls, tents packed so tightly that smoke rises like a second skyline.

Nearly three hundred thousand adventurers answer the call.

Inside the city proper, noble banners dominate the eastern districts. Two hundred thousand soldiers assemble under different colors—Marquises, Counts, Dukes—all flying their pride side by side. Armor gleams in disciplined ranks. Spearheads align with mechanical precision. War beasts stamp and snort, reins held tight by sweating handlers.

The air smells of oil, iron, and mana.

Everyone waits.

The Grand Plaza of Celes City stands at the heart of it all, a vast open expanse of white stone capable of holding entire armies. Today, it does.

Adventurers fill the outer rings, packed shoulder to shoulder. Soldiers form rigid formations closer to the center. Elevated platforms rise along the plaza's edge, reserved for nobles and officials.

And beyond the barriers—

Civilians.

Normal citizens flood rooftops, balconies, towers, and city walls. Merchants abandon stalls. Children cling to parents' shoulders. Old men lean on canes, eyes sharp with anticipation.

Most of them will never see a Marshal in their entire lives.

Today, they might.

A murmur rolls through the plaza like distant thunder.

"He's not here yet?"

"They said noon."

"Do you think he'll really appear in person?"

An adventurer with a scarred face laughs nervously. "Of course he will. He's Marshal Stegran."

Another shakes his head. "I heard Marshals don't even walk the same ground as us."

A soldier tightens his grip on his spear. "Quiet. You're about to find out."

At the western edge of the plaza, the Azure Fang stands among the highest-ranked adventurers.

Ronan watches the city with a commander's eye.

Lani stands slightly behind him, gaze constantly moving.

Brick squints upward at the noble platforms. "You think half of them even know what they signed up for?"

Solace folds his hands behind his back. "No," he says calmly. "But they know who they're waiting for."

The sky darkens.

Not with clouds.

With pressure.

The plaza hushes as if the city itself holds its breath. Mana begins to condense overhead, invisible but unmistakable. Even untrained civilians feel it—a weight pressing down on lungs and skin.

A noble whispers, voice shaking, "He's coming."

A deep, resonant sound rolls across the city.

Not a horn.

Not a spell.

Footsteps.

Each step lands somewhere far beyond sight, yet every person feels it in their bones. The stone beneath the plaza vibrates faintly, rhythm steady and unhurried.

Step.

Step.

Step.

An adventurer swallows hard. "That's… walking?"

A soldier whispers, "By the gods…"

From the far end of the plaza, the air distorts.

Space bends inward, folding like fabric under invisible hands. A silhouette emerges, not rushed, not dramatic, but inevitable.

Marshal Stegran steps into view.

He is tall. Not monstrously so, but impossibly solid. His presence crushes scale itself. Dark ceremonial armor wraps his body, etched with ancient runes that glow faintly, as if restraining something far greater beneath. A long green cloak drapes behind him, unmoving despite the wind.

He carries no visible weapon.

He does not need one.

The entire plaza drops to one knee.

Not ordered.

Not signaled.

It simply happens.

Steel clatters as soldiers kneel. Adventurers freeze, then follow. Even nobles lower their heads, hands trembling.

Civilians fall silent.

Brick exhales shakily. "…So that's him."

Lani doesn't answer. Her eyes are locked forward, pupils tight. "His mana field… it's layered. There's even an unknown power that I can't tell."

Solace's voice is quiet. "Because we're not meant to."

Stegran stops at the center of the plaza.

He surveys the armies before him, hundreds of thousands of lives waiting on his words.

Then he speaks.

His voice is not loud.

It does not need to be.

"Rise."

The single word echoes, carried by mana itself.

Everyone stands.

Stegran's gaze sweeps across the crowd, unreadable.

"Monsters gather beyond Nam City," he says calmly. "They threaten the kingdom. They threaten order."

His eyes flick briefly toward the noble platforms.

"I will remove them."

A wave of awe crashes through the plaza.

Some cheer.

Some tremble.

Some smile in blind relief.

---

High above the Grand Plaza, the palace balcony overlooks everything.

From here, the city looks small.

The massed armies become patterns. The sea of adventurers turns into shifting colors. Even Marshal Stegran, so overwhelming from below, feels contained within the vastness of the capital's layout.

King Alden stands at the front of the balcony, hands resting on the carved stone railing. His crown feels heavier than usual.

Beside him stands Charles, posture relaxed but eyes sharp. Knight Virtil stands half a step behind them both, armored hands clasped behind his back, gaze fixed on Stegran's departing figure.

The cheers below rise, distant and distorted.

Alden exhales slowly.

"Is this… acceptable?" he asks, voice low. "If they succeed in defeating the monsters, the status of the three Marshals will skyrocket."

He does not look at Charles when he speaks.

Charles smiles faintly.

"You don't have to worry about that, brother," he says calmly. "This victory won't be clean."

Alden turns his head. "What do you mean?"

Charles rests his elbows lightly against the railing, eyes following the massive sigil still fading from the sky.

"Because the Beast King the monsters have," Charles continues, "is not ordinary."

Alden stiffens. "You're certain?"

Charles nods once. "You remember the stories we used to read as children."

Alden's brow furrows.

"The one about the calamity beast?" he says slowly. "The creature that almost destroyed the kingdom during the founding era?"

Charles chuckles quietly. "You loved that one."

Alden's fingers tighten against the stone.

"That beast shattered cities," Alden says. "It took the first king's life to stop it."

"Exactly," Charles replies. "And yet here we are again."

Silence stretches between them.

The cheering below continues, unaware.

Alden swallows. "Are you saying… the monsters have that beast?"

Before Charles can answer, Virtil speaks.

"It is one hundred percent certain," he says flatly.

Both brothers turn to him.

Virtil's eyes are cold, focused—not on the plaza, but far beyond it, as if seeing another battlefield entirely.

"No peak Tier 6 being can destroy a high-tier city's barrier in a single attack," Virtil said.

Alden's voice is tight. "Unless…"

"Unless they are quasi–Tier 7," Virtil finishes.

The words settle heavily.

----

Plison City stands under a different kind of order.

The white stone streets are washed clean, free of trash, free of rot. Cracked roads are already repaired with rough but sturdy stonework. Broken walls are reinforced with monster-forged barriers etched directly into the masonry. Even the air feels clearer.

Monsters patrol the streets in disciplined rotations. Wolfkin squads move in pairs, eyes sharp. Horned brutes carry supply crates instead of looting them. Flying scouts perch atop towers that once flew noble banners.

Humans still live here.

They walk carefully, eyes lowered. Most are left alone, just as the king ordered. But every so often, a snarling voice snaps too close, or a clawed hand shoves someone aside. When that happens, another monster usually intervenes, sometimes with words, sometimes with force.

Fear exists.

But chaos does not.

At the center of the city, the former governor's hall has been repurposed into a command fortress.

Inside the wide council chamber, four figures stand over a massive stone table carved with a relief map of the surrounding region.

Ruk stands with arms crossed, massive frame barely contained by his armor.

Erel'na traces a claw along the carved routes leading toward Nam City, eyes sharp.

"Two days," she says. "That's the fastest the human vanguard can reach us if they don't slow for formations."

Vordon stands at the head of the table, hands planted against the stone. The map trembles faintly beneath his palms, not from force, but from restrained pressure.

"Two days is enough," Vordon says. "Issue the order. All units prepare for layered defense."

Ruk nods once. "Frontline packs rotate every six hours. No exhaustion. No glory charges."